I noticed that in a couple of threads people were requesting to see clear picture's or video of the AA and real mermaids on SV. I came across an amazing quality video of one on youtube, and thought you would all be interested to see :] it certainly made my morning

Re: Submarine Voyage Mermaid's

I love those AA mermaids, they were a big part of the magic of that ride. They never seemed to swim terribly close to the subs, and video allows one to get a better look at them.

I never got to experience the ride :[ and the videos I have seen in the past didn't show the mermaid as close to the sub as that....
I don't really like the finding nemo theme...they should of stuck with the original the mermaids are part of the awe of the ride for myself personally...

Re: Submarine Voyage Mermaid's

I have wondered about that myself...I imagine they were auctioned...

What I recall when I did see the mermaids live, they looked like they were made of hot-melt vinyl or plastisol--very soft and flexible, and the sort of thing that probably had to be replaced fairly often. So it is likely that metal molds for these exist somewhere. Unlike most animatronic figures that wore clothing and so could feature individual hand skins and head skins and so on (small pieces), the mermaids appeared to be cast as one continuous full-body piece. That's a big vinyl casting! Must have had some sort of jointed metal understructure inside--lightweight but substantial enough to rig the wires onto it.

Sorry you never got to see the original ride. The new version of the ride doesn't do it for me, either...I could go into a list of reasons but it would be a rant, I think...the best thing about it is just to be in a sub cruising around the original lagoon, but I think the new concept spoils the experience...

Re: Submarine Voyage Mermaid's

Yeah...I'm an old fuddy-duddy...I wanted them to leave the whole thing as it was, fake-looking fish and all. I loved those fake fish. On a fine sunny day, with the light streaming through the water, the beginning of the ride was really breathtakingly beautiful. The videos that are out there give a good idea of what it looked like...there is a guy on Ebay selling DVDs of his camcorder footage, and the stuff looks real good.